Visitors to newtgingrich.com were being redirected to The Atlantic Wire site instead, where they could read an article critical of his campaign to become the Republican nominee for president.
The Atlantic Wire

Someone is having a little fun at Newt Gingrich's expense.

Visitors to newtgingrich.com, who probably are looking for information on Gingrich's campaign to become the Republican nominee for president, are instead being automatically redirected to other sites.

And in regard to Pelosi, it's awkward enough to appear to be cozying up to a political enemy on a topic that's considered controversial by many of your party members. But Gingrich also has done his fair share of hedging on the issue of climate change and its causes and solutions. He used to voice strong support for cap-and-trade policy to reduce emissions, but then he switched to saying there should be investments in new technology as opposed to more regulation. He recently said, "sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi is the dumbest single thing I've done in the last few years," before going on to deny that he ever supported cap and trade, according to Factcheck.org.

The registrar information for "newtgingrich.com," which was updated yesterday, is private, so it's a mystery who's behind this.

A representative for the Gingrich campaign did not respond to a phone call or e-mail seeking comment from CNET today.

While this prank may confuse some Gingrich supporters, there's not much his campaign can do except remember to acquire important related domains. His campaign site is at newt.org, but it appears that his campaign failed to acquire either of the two most popular top-level domains using his full name: .com or .org. Gingrich is not alone in this oversight--rickperry.com temporarily redirected to Ron Paul's campaign Web site several weeks ago, according to Mashable.

About the author

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.
See full bio